As you know, MY REINCARNATION has begun to spread the crucial story of our Masters – Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Khyentse Yeshe – to wide audiences everywhere. We could not have done it without all your support! But after 20 years of working by hook or by crook, the production is still 100K away from making it out into the world and another 40-70K to having a theatrical tour with Khyentse Yeshe in the USA this fall 2011.

In the spirit of Rinpoche, himself, we are launched a new funding campaign – called Kickstarter – with amazing thank you incentives to bridge the funding gap! These include T-shirts, pre-release DVDs, one-of-a-kind artwork and a compilation of never-before-released teachings that I filmed with Rinpoche.

You can find out more about this – as well as information about how to become a Producer on the film – on our new Kickstarter page:

Please consider donating. But if you find yourself unable to make a monetary contribution, consider joining us as an Outreach Partner and help us spread the word about our Kickstarter campaign to your friends and people everywhere. Link your personal or community site to it. Tell other Buddhist, spiritual, and Tibetan cultural groups about it. Tweet it. Facebook it. Sing it from the mountaintops. We need you now more than ever!

And more news: Now, during Rinpoche’s visit to Melbourne, Sydney, we are having a fantastic “Sneak Preview Fundraising Screening” of the film on March 8th at the Novo Cinema, Melbourne! Rinpoche himself will be doing press for the exciting Australian film festival release. Come to our screening!

And as part of our MR campaign to keep giving back to the community, we are continuing our OUTTAKES FROM THE FILM (O.F.F.) web series. Click below to see this sweet, new funny, O.F.F. 4: “I was a terrible child!” (1989) – where Rinpoche talks about growing up in Tibet.

Jennifer Fox is an internationally acclaimed director, producer, camerawoman and educator. Her first film, BEIRUT: THE LAST HOME MOVIE, was broadcast in twenty countries, released theatrically in nine, and won seven international awards, including Best Documentary Film and Best Cinematography at the 1988 Sundance Film Festival. Her second film, AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY, screened at festivals internationally, including the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals (1999) and aired in the USA nationally on PBS primetime. It received a Gracie Award for Best Television Series and was named ”One of the Top Ten Television Series of 1999” by The New York Times. She co-produced, directed and shot the six-part film, FLYING: CONFESSIONS OF A FREE WOMAN which premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2006 and the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and did a 20-city theatrical tour in North America before airing on the BBC, SVT, TV-2, YLE, SBS, and the Sundance Channel in 2008.

How foolish you are, grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention! - Vasubandhu

WE MADE IT!!! 100% and COUNTING! CAN WE HIT THE FULL $100,000? Or $140,000? LET'S KEEP GOING!We completed Phase One! In half the time – only 46 days out of the full 90 days!

I feel so blessed by you to have reached our first Kickstarter goal of $50,000. I am blown away by all of you, our 168 backers, who showed such generosity, support, and belief in just how important this project is. You are true patrons of the arts.

HOW FAR CAN WE GO?!Now that we have blasted through the $50,000 ceiling, it’s time to shoot for the moon and go for the full $100,000 and even $140,000!

- $100,000 will finally close the completion costs of the film.

- Another $40,000 would cover the very basic American theatrical tour.

If your heart is still open and you are passionate about this cause we humbly and gratefully accept any further pledges here on Kickstarter. In return we are honored to continue offering the rewards you see to your right!

Spread the word about our Kickstarter campaign: message your friends and family, post on Facebook, Tweet it, sing it from the mountaintops. You’ve proven that MY REINCARNATION has an international community; lets get this crucial film about cultural and spiritual survival to the world.

Stay Tuned I'll be writing more....

Love, Jennifer Fox

How foolish you are, grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention! - Vasubandhu

There are so many of you who recently donated whom I have not had time to write personal thank you notes. I am so sorry for the delay. The last two weeks have been overwhelming with your support.

I feel like we are all part of a new world of funding for the arts. As I see your donations roll in from all over the world -- people I know and people I don’t know -- I am so moved and also excited to be on the cutting edge of change.

I remember when I was a child, my Dad used to say, "People vote with their feet." He meant that when people are free they will migrate to the country where there is more opportunity. With crowd-funding, now ordinary people can vote upon upon what they want to see made in the world. This group power will change the arts and filmmaking forever. It already has.

With MY REINCARNATION we are moving onto Phase Two of the campaign. It is amazing we met our first goal of $50,000! Now we are starting to climb yet an even higher peak to raise the full $100,000. I know we can do it. But there are no books to read for guidance and so few people to consult with.

In this new terrain, I have so many questions to ask you who have joined the campaign along the way:

I been wondering as I watch the waves of donors at different times, what made each of you decide to donate when you did? What was your personal tipping point? Why that day? Hour?

Was it the email you received? The facebook message? The comment from a friend? Some of you have already doubled your donation. What moved you to do so?

The question of how this viral movement works is fascinating. We have 199 donors now in 58 days– amazing! But how do we move that to 500 donors to reach our goal in the 32 days left?

Talk to me if you have time. Let me know your own “tipping point”. We inhabit this strange new land together now, charting a whole new possibility for the arts. We are all explorers together.

And of course if you feel the inspiration, pass the word about our campaign. Admit to five close friends that you are actually a backer of a major documentary film that is being shown at festivals around the world and soon to be on TV. Tell them what it feels like to be supporting an important cultural project. Why did you do it? Maybe one of them will want to even join me to become a Producer on the film.

And for those of you are in NYC, we just announced an exciting “Sneak Preview Screening” of the film at the Rubin Museum of Art on May 18th. (Need I say, it's a fundraising screening....)

Today I wake up very early. I want to sleep longer but at 5:30 am my mind is nagging me. I go to check my email only to discover that the Vajrapani statue donated by Khyentse Yeshi just yesterday was bought last night on our Kickstarter site. I smile to myself how things can change so quickly. We are climbing to our goal, now at $75,000, only 4 days left! We have a chance—with everyone’s continued support—to succeed.

In the middle of writing, I get up to go out to walk the dog. When I come back, things have changed again. Another amazing soul has just donated to become an Associate Producer. We are now at $85,000. We are closing in on our target…

THANK ALL OF YOU OUT THERE WHO ARE RESPONDING TO OUR PETITION!!! YOU ARE AMAZING...

Sometimes the world shifts so quickly it is hard to comprehend. One moment you think things are impossible, the next moment they are possible and then you set another goal and they are impossible again. The endless cycle of hope and fear and the impermanence of human life…

I always remember when I first met our Teacher, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, in my mid-twenties, I heard him say something very interesting:

“Obstacles appear when you are trying to do something important” He said, “It is a sign.”

This went against every New Age proverb I had ever heard. Everyone in the spiritual movement seemed to agree that when problems arose it was a ‘sign that the Karma was wrong.’ You should stop doing whatever you were doing.

“No,” Rinpoche told me, “Generally when you are trying to do something important, it’s something new and different. People always oppose what they don’t know. Human beings don’t like change. They like to hold onto the belief that things are permanent. Change is always scary so it provokes opposition and obstacles…”

Ah, my dear Teacher! All these years, Rinpoche’s words have helped me to persevere through many challenges. Whenever I begin a film project, I strive to create something that breaks new ground. But this invariably causes trouble: How can funders and broadcasters know what to think about an idea when they have never seen it before? What reference do they have? Generally making anything new is a process of convincing people that what you are presenting them with will be something that they will enjoy and accept – and be accepted by their peers. Human beings are ‘herd animals’. They feel safe when their peers agree with their choices. All fundraising and distribution is about shifting people’s beliefs in a project—from being unknown, unfamiliar, and outside of their comprehension—to something familiar, important, and acceptable to their world.

With the spiritual subject of MY REINCARNATION we have confronted many obstacles to acceptance by mainstream outlets, but the film’s universal father-son story has slowly changed peoples’ minds. We have also faced many hurtles, trying to cover the films completion costs so late in the project. But now with all of your help the tide is turning. We are succeeding in completing a film that many in the film business said no one wanted, but which now, people are hungrily waiting to see all over the world. With your help, millions of people will watch this film and have an opportunity to be introduced to this rare tradition and spiritual lineage, set in the most recognizable of family stories.

Yesterday, the Huffington Post published an article about my long journey making MY REINCARNATION. With every step the film – and the press about the film – gets out to a wider audience. With continued work we can keep building this momentum.

Read here Huffington Post: “Buddhist Samaya and the Making of ‘My Reincarnation”.

Today we have 327 backers and as of this moment we have raised $87,000! So many of you joined the boat yesterday, I was overwhelmed. Now we just have to keep going to make it the last step to $100,00 – only $14,000 more to go with 4 days left. I know we can do it.

Please if you know anyone with more disposable income, let them know about this museum quality painting from my personal collection of Vajrapani by esteemed artist and Buddhist teacher Dugu Choegyal Rinpoche. The artwork of Dugu Choegyal Rinpoche hangs in the Rubin museum of Art as well as other collections around the world. He painted the seminal paintings in the Gompa in Merigar, Italy, Rinpoche’s main center. This extraordinary painting is perfect for home or temple. See Vajrapani Painting here.

Today is the day to pass the word to every person, place and being you can! If you feel like increasing your pledge, do so now. This campaign is crucial to get MY REINCARNATION completed so it can reach the world.

Click and Share our Kickstarter Site Now!

I am so moved by all your support and generosity!

To be continued.

Love and gratitude,

Jennifer Fox

How foolish you are, grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention! - Vasubandhu

It was already common knowledge that Yeshi was the reincarnation of his father's uncle, a famous master who died at the hands of the Chinese. Knowing this, I started to imagine a father-son film where the son would wake up and recognize his reincarnation, return to Tibet and be enthroned in the monastery waiting for him. But when I told Yeshi of my filmmaking dream, he said I should forget it. He wanted nothing to do with this legacy. He was playing in a rock band and studying at the University.

I continued filming, but nothing happened and eventually I stopped traveling with Namkhai Norbu, put the footage aside, and made other films. Periodically I returned to record Rinpoche and Yeshi. Over a decade and a half went by and I was still filming my teacher, still waiting for a story to appear. Until slowly, I began to hear word that Yeshi's life was changing. He was flooded by visions of his past life .

The young woman in Munich wanted to understand what kept me filming all those years, when nothing was happening. I took a deep breath. I always feel that speaking to film students is different than speaking to a lay audience. I wanted to unpack the journey of making "My Reincarnation" in a way that would strip away the mystique, so she would have courage on her own filmmaking path. Here are the notes of what I said:

"My Reincarnation" was the film I was most afraid to make and tried to walk away from many times. Why? Because ...

How do you show the spiritual on film when it all happens inside the mind? What was the story? There was no narrative for the first 18 years of shooting. Most of the people in the film business rolled their eyes every time I said I was making a film about a Buddhist Teacher.

If I didn't handle the Teachings properly, the Buddhist students would be angry. But if I didn't figure out how to make the Teachings simple and accessible, no one would watch the film. I wasn't sure it was possible to satisfy both audiences in one film. I was bound to be crucified by somebody. This was going to be the film that would end my career because it didn't fit into the current craze for sexy, violent, political documentaries that is so prevalent.

Twenty-two years later, the reality looks totally different. Broadcasters will be airing the film internationally and festivals want it all over the world. There I was standing before this student with a successful film. It always seems easy when you see a finished product and all the problems have been solved. But the question for the young film student in front of me and for all of us is how to keep going in the face of all the obstacles life throws at you along the path?

Sitting in a bar in Krakow, I have been watching the last hour of donations come in on my laptop... A dear Austrian friend, also at the festival, Susanne Guggenberger, sat down with me and joined in the vigil. Together we watched the emails roll in.

First, I now know the answer to my query: Yes, on the Kickstarter countdown, the days do change from hours, to minutes, to seconds, to zero. Zero time left: $150,456 raised, 518 backer. 518 backers, my dream!

You, yes you, have made film history and as I write this I have to admit, my eyes begin to tear and my jaw tightens. You have done it, all of you. From the first brave soul, Thomas Homberg in Germany, to the last hero Joni, whom I don't know where she's from, and all the others, all I can say is thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I am speechless, exhausted, exhilarated...

You will hear from us starting Tuesday next week with a questionnaire to begin processing everyone's rewards. We don't even have your email addresses! What brave souls to join in this endeavor.

Together, we really have created a movement and a phenomenon to take MY REINCARNATION to the world!

YOU HAVE PROVEN THAT YOU WANT TO SEE THIS FILM TO BE DISTRIBUTED EVERYWHERE.

Now we will take that message out to the industry. And with your support, we can start to do the next steps to fulfill you dreams.

LOVE and more,

Jennifer and the Team, Katherine, Lisa, and Stefanie

How foolish you are, grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention! - Vasubandhu